ADDRESS BY HE AMBASSADOR GJ GROBLER OF
THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA AT THE RECEPTION HELD
AT THE JAPAN NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, TOKYO
IN HONOUR OF ABDULLAH IBRAHIM,
RENOWNED JAZZ PIANIST FROM SOUTH AFRICA
ON 28 SEPTEMBER 2010
Thank you for joining us for this reception “Celebrating our Heritage” with South Africa’s much loved and hugely influential composer and musician, Abdullah Ibrahim – and if I may add, one of South Africa’s greatest export products!
We are indeed fortunate to have Abdullah Ibrahim with us tonight, in this year when South Africa and Japan have reached a significant milestone, celebrating 100 Years of Official Relations. We look forward to the next 100 years with Japan being considered a strategic partner for our country and our Continent. One of the Embassy’s major priorities is create closer bonds of friendship and people-to-people co-operation such as through cultural exchange and I cannot conceive of a better person to bring Japan and South Africa together through music, than Abdullah Ibrahim.
Abdullah Ibrahim arrived in Japan in September - in South Africa, September marks the annual Heritage Month which culminates in Heritage Day on 24 September. It is a time when we pay tribute and appreciate SA’s incredibly rich cultural heritage and diversity.
Celebrating our diverse heritage helps South Africans come together, fostering cross-cultural understanding, respect and promoting harmony which is the spirit of Ubuntu and which contributes to our unique and beautiful rainbow nation.
South Africa’s hugely successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup showed what South Africans can achieve working together in the spirit of Ubuntu. Heritage month in SA this year has been focusing on this great achievement.
The theme of this Heritage day is also “Celebrating South Africa’s Living Human Treasures - the custodians of our Intangible Cultural Heritage”. Abdullah Ibrahim is such a treasure and who, through his music, has over the years created an awareness and taught so many South Africans and also our younger generations, more about our incredibly rich heritage. On his many albums he has dedicated many of his compositions to the beauty, the vastness, the tranquility of the South Africa’s and Africa’s landscapes and to the warmth, generosity and creativity of its people. Abdullah Ibrahim has bought land in the beautiful Kalahari desert which he has plans to turn into an educational place for young artists and children to learn music, martial arts and to meditate under the wide open spaces and beautiful sky. The fascinating, but understandable thing is that he has named this place “Furusato” (hometown in Japanese). In fact, Abdullah Ibrahim is a frequent visitor to Japan to learn the ancient Japanese martial art of Kobudo from his master Mr Yukio Tonegawa, who I am happy to say is also with us here tonight . Abdullah Ibrahim’s close link with Japan and its people is understandable, given the fact that he appreciates the Japanese people’s relationship between humankind and the gods and the sacredness of nature. It is no wonder that his music is so strongly characterized and inspired by spirituality. Many critics have said that Abdullah Ibrahim’s understanding of the far reaching roots of the healing tradition of both music and art, is deep and comprehensive. I recently came across the following moving quote by Abdullah Ibrahim, I quote “many times I would hear a sound and suddenly it would dawn on me that this was the same pattern being used in a different culture. At a very early age Allah blessed me to recognize the universality of music”
Abdullah Ibrahim was born in one of South Africa’s beautiful cities, Cape Town. His mother played the piano and his grandmother was a church organist. He was therefore always surrounded by music. He first received piano lessons at the age of seven and embarked on his music career aged 14. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to gospel and more modern jazz and other Western styles.
He has played alongside South African greats saxophonist Mr Kippie Moeketsi & trumpeter Mr Hugh Masekela with The Jazz Epistles in Sophiatown and the group recorded the first jazz LP by Black South African musicians in 1960.
In 1963 he was discovered by Duke Ellington in Zurich and “Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio” released that year led to international recognition. Abdulla Ibrahim mainly plays piano but also plays the flute, saxophone, and cello and he mainly performs his own compositions.
He made a series of recordings with noted Cape jazz players including Mr Basil Coetzee and Mr Robbie Jansen which included “Manenberg” which became the unofficial anthem and hallmark of the anti-Apartheid movement .
Because of the brutal oppression, and horrific conditions in SA, Abdullah Ibrahim decided to exile himself and his family in 1976 as a protest against the Apartheid Regime and only returned permanently to South Africa in the early nineties when Apartheid was defeated, and SA held its first democratic elections. He now lives in Cape Town but divides his time between his global concert circuit, New York, and South Africa. He has performed in honour of Mr Nelson Mandela's at the latter’s inauguration as President. Amongst his many, many achievements, he has also founded the "M7" academy for South African musicians in Cape Town, and was the initiator of the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra in 2006.
Abdullah Ibrahim has written the soundtracks for a number of films, including the award winning Chocolat and, more recently, No Fear, No Die. He also took part in the 2002 documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony where he and others recalled the struggle against apartheid and the joy, exhilaration and excitement of a new SA.
In Japan, Abdullah Ibrahim recently appeared in a wonderful NHK-BS documentary which aired on June 26, 2010. In the programme, he performed his compositions in several scenic places in South Africa. A very good Japanese friend of mine Reiko Awazu, herself an accomplished pianist (who is present here tonight) wrote to me as follows after she saw the NHK programme: I quote “the fusion of great scenery of mother nature of SA and his music was exquisite. …… I was very inspired by his music and his ways. Manenberg is such a powerful song. I felt very moved. Abdulah Ibrahim’s music speaks directly to my heart. I felt that he is different from African American jazz players, this must come from his background. The rhythm of his heart is optimistic and uplifting and his melodies and harmonies are hypnotic and beautiful, I look very much forward to hear his live performance in September. And if the circumstances allow, I would love to meet him in person, (with a piano nearby …..)” unquote. We have the NHK team here tonight and the documentary is also playing for those who did not get a chance to see it when it was broadcast.
Tomorrow will be his first concert in Japan in 17 years at the Blue Rose Hall in Suntory Hall – I know you will all be there! His concerts at the Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto in October are already sold out and promise to be memorable spiritual experiences. I thank the promoters Shalala and Lush Life for allowing the people of this great country Japan to experience this memorable talent and excellence during this special celebratory year and I thank Abdullah Ibrahim for being with us tonight.
Thank you
REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR
GJ GROBLER AT THE
AMIA – SA FORUM RECEPTION
HELD AT THE
SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY
17 SEPTEMBER 2010
- I wish to welcome all the members of the AMIA (Active Middle International Organisation) to the South African Embassy tonight. I wish to also thank them for their positive and constructive approach to South Africa.
- I have been in Japan for almost two years now, and let me add that it is indeed a great privilege for me to be SA’s Ambassador in this wonderful country. Japan is regarded as a strategic partner by my government and we are very keen to actively expand our relations with Japan. Japan and its people are highly respected by my government and the people of SA for its rich culture, history traditions, their love for nature, and also for Japan’s economic achievements and its cutting edge technology in so many sectors. My first impressions of Japan and its people are one of admiration and respect.
- I can mention that 2010 is an important year for both our governments and countries, a year in which SA will be hosting the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in nine cities in SA in June/July. In fact the World Cup starts in exactly two weeks from today. This will be the first time ever that the WC will be held on the African continent and we are especially happy that Japan has qualified to participate in this major sporting event. We expect many thousands of Japanese soccer fans to travel to SA to support their team. I must add that all the preparations and plans for the WC are on track and that we and FIFA are convinced that it will be a very successful and unique WC with ongoing celebrations, music, cultural events etc.
- A further reason why 2010 is important for both countries, is the fact that Japan and SA are celebrating 100 years of relations in the course of this year. Given the historic trade ties between Japan and SA, Japan thought it necessary to appoint an Honorary Consul in Cape Town in 1910 to deal with the ongoing trade and shipping matters between the two countries. Perhaps I should add that the ties that bind Japan and SA go back almost 400 years ago to the 17th century when Japan started to trade with Holland via a Dutch Trading House in Dejima, just off Nagasaki. The first two commanders of the Dutch East India Company in Cape Town, van Riebeeck and Wagener both were stationed at Dejima before being posted to Cape Town. This ensured that there was always a special link between Cape Town and Japan. Throughout the occupation of SA by the Dutch, there are numerous references to Japanese products to be found in official records. Cape Dutch households were equipped with Imari porcelain and people like Anthonij could not live without a regular supply of sake. The yukata was also fashionable and to this day a robe or gown is still termed “japon” in the Afrikaans language. The Japanese citrus fruit mikan, known in SA as naartjie soon became a household fruit with every Cape kitchen using its dried peel as an essential ingredient to many quintessential Cape dishes. SA is also famous for its unique naartjie liqueur known as Van der Hum.
The Dutch, on the other hand keen to impress the shoguns with exotic gifts from Africa, regularly sent ostriches and other curios, SA fauna and flora to Dejima for presentation to Edo (the capital of Japan where the Shogunate was located)
Already at the early stages of contact the Japanese were introduced to uniquely indigenous Cape flora such as protea, Erica (Cape heath), strelitzia, gladioli, freesia, aloe and the arum lily. Now common throughout Japan at florists, people are generally unaware of the SA origin of so many of these flowers.
- In any event this year Japan and SA will be celebrating a 100 years of official relations with a number of political, economic , cultural, arts, sporting etc events and the Embassy would be very happy if all of you could participate in these celebrations. We are convinced that with these two important events in 2010 i.e. the FIFA 2010 Soccer WC and the celebration of 100 years of relations will contribute to the further significant strengthening of relations between SA and Japan. As I mentioned my government keenly wishes to actively expand relations between our two countries.
- In fact, the SA government and the Embassy has set itself three objectives and priorities:
The first is to further expand the already existing good economic ties between SA and Japan. Japan has consistently been among SA’s top three trading partners in the world and in fact in 2008 it was SA’s most important trading partner globally and in 2009 in number 3 position. SA is one of the top emerging economies of the world together with Brazil, India, and Russia etc. SA is a global power house in terms of mineral resources with huge reserves apart from gold and diamonds, also platinum group of metals, manganese, vanadium etc. We also have a rapidly expanding purchasing power in the country as a result of our fast expanding economy over the last 10/15 years. I see huge opportunities in further expanding trade and investment ties between our two countries. There are already between 80 and 90 major Japanese companies with a presence and investments in SA.
Our second objective is to further stimulate the political dialogue and consultations between Japan and SA not only on bilateral and Africa matters, but also on international global issues such as the current international economic crises (Japan and SA are both members of the G20 grouping), on multilateral issues i.e. United Nations reform and peace in the world (SA and Japan are both candidates to hold permanent seats in a reformed UNSC), on Climate Change and Global warming (SA together with China, Brazil and Russia, as a group, played a key role in the Copenhagen negotiations recently) on disarmament, (SA was the first country in the world that voluntary and unilaterally gave up its nuclear weapons capability. My country will therefore continue to fight for a world free of nuclear weapons). In all these areas I mentioned, SA wishes to have closer consultations and dialogue with Japan.
Our third objective is to actively promote closer contacts and a better mutual understanding between the people of Japan and SA. In this context we would like to see more tourists from Japan visiting SA and vice versa. It is important that the people of Japan and SA get to know each other better. SA is a breathtakingly beautiful country with a fascinating and diverse history and culture. SA has the most incredible diverse fauna and flora with many world known national parks, with eight world heritage sights, we also have delicious food of various origins and of course we have excellent SA wines, which are increasingly popular in Japan.
SA is an attractive, affordable and safe tourist destination, attracting almost 10 million foreign visitors a year. Right now approximately 35,000 Japanese are visiting SA per year. It is our objective to further increase these figures and I think the events I mentioned this year will help us to achieve this figure.
SA’s people are warm friendly and generous and I always say that SA's people are amongst our greatest assets: people like Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the golfer Ernie Els, the actress Charlize Theron and many others. It is not commonly known that SA has in fact produced eight Nobel Prize winners over the last few decades in various categories.
So Ladies and Gentlemen, these are the objectives that my government would like to further promote in this special year, 2010. And it is against this background that I am also happy that you chose the South African Embassy today for your seminar. The Embassy is indeed honoured by your presence.
We look forward to cooperating closely
with the AMIA in future.
I thank you for your kind gesture in coming to the South African Embassy tonight.
Arigato Goizaimashita
REMARKS BY
AMBASSADOR, GJ GROBLER
AT THE INVESTEC ECONOMIC SEMINAR AT THE SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY IN TOKYO ON WEDNESDAY 08 SEPTEMBER
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentlemen
- It is a great pleasure to extend a hearty welcome to you to the SA Embassy today
- As many of you know, it is one of this Embassy’s top priorities to promote closer economic ties and cooperation between South Africa, our region in Southern Africa and for that matter Africa – be it trade or investment
- Today I am very happy to welcome representatives of one, if you will, of SA’s greatest “export products” namely Investec Asset Management. Investec Asset Management is an independently managed subsidiary of the Investec Group, which has a dual listing in London and Johannesburg and a member of the FOOTSIE 100 companies, which employs almost 6,000 people and has third party assets under management to the tune of $112 billion US. Although Investec Asset Management’s origins are South African, it has a strong growing global approach, so I am particularly happy to welcome – Dr Michael Power, Investec’s leading Strategist, Mr Makoto Sakaguchi based in New York and Eiichi Hayashi from SIG, Japan – I am going to leave it to Mr Sakaguchi to talk a little more about Michael and Investec.
- I told them yesterday that their visit and today’s event is welcomed by us, because it takes place against, as we all know, the background of a definite shift towards a new multiple global economy, with better prospects in developing countries and regions than in developed ones.
- The World Bank projects growth in developing economies of approximately 6% this year and next, - more than twice that of high income countries. Since 2000, developing countries have accounted for more than half the rise in global demand for imports. I can actually dwell on this topic for hours – i.e. suffice to say that Investec Asset management as a global specialist investment manager, will tell us that there is a very clear strategic asset switch towards emerging country bonds under way.
- Michael will tell you that Investec is of the view that “the carry trade” appears to be back with a vengeance where amongst other interest rate differentials are a great attraction, making for attractive returns.
- We also see it here in Japan where retail and institutional investors are increasingly looking for better returns in emerging economies, in other words investing is in fact decidedly going “global”.
In this context, let me say that the strategic importance of Africa is very rapidly increasing – and if one analyses recent political, social and in particular economic data, one must come to the conclusion that Africa is on a clear cut secular upward growth path with huge and growing investment opportunities. There are many reports and data that confirm the fact that the rate of return on investment in Africa today is higher than in any other developing region. There are a number of factors for this inter alia improved political and macro-economic stability, good governance, huge resources of natural resources, and of course, rapidly rising demand for commodities and the explosive rise of urban consumer demand in a population of over 1 billion people, most of them young people.
I will not dwell on the exciting economic opportunities in Africa further, as I am sure that working with Investec Asset Management and a growing number of Japanese companies across the board, who are displaying an increased awareness of these opportunities, we will no doubt inevitably talk much more about opportunities in Africa in the foreseeable future.
I will now give the floor to our experts from Investec, which as I said, is a company which counts amongst South Africa’s finest “export products”.
Remarks by Ambassador GJ Grobler at the event to congratulate Madame Ogata on receiving the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo award at the Meiji Memorial Hall, Tokyo, 23 June 2010
I am indeed honoured to preside over this event tonight involving one of Japan’s leading and most astute personalities Madame, Sadako Ogata, and I am very pleased that so many of you have joined us on this important occasion for South Africa.
As many of you may be aware Madame Ogata was recently awarded a South African National Order, The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo and in fact Madame Ogata received this South African honour from President Jacob Zuma in person, in Pretoria on 27 April 2010.
Let me perhaps give some brief background to the significance of this award and honour bestowed on Madame Ogata.
The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo is a South African honour, and it was instituted on 6 December 2002, and is granted by the President of South Africa, to foreign citizens who have promoted South African interests and aspirations through co-operation, solidarity, and support.
The order is named after the late Oliver Tambo, who was the African National Congress’s president in-exile for many years.
The late Oliver Tambo dedicated his life to overthrowing the Apartheid regime by mobilising fellow citizens to resist the Apartheid Government and relentlessly mobilizing world opinion against the odious Apartheid ideology and regime.
Oliver Tambo was known in the liberation movement for his gentle character and compassionate qualities. His benevolence and personal concern for the plight of freedom fighters and their conditions in the field endeared him to thousands of liberation fighters.
The late Oliver Tambo and the ANC were very much seized with global issues. And in this context, I would like to say that the late Oliver Tambo visited Japan on more than one occasion and during a visit to Hiroshima in April 1987, he wrote the following compelling message in the guestbook of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum which I would like to quote because it is today more relevant and pertinent than ever before.
Quote:
“History chose the city of Hiroshima to tell the world never again to go to war, never ever to abandon the struggle for peace. The tragic story of Hiroshima told in this painful museum is a guide to present and future generations, if mankind and our planet are to be saved from complete obliteration”.
Unquote
This quote very appropriately reflected the political philosophy and approach of Oliver Tambo. This approach also informed South Africa’s decision in the early 90’s to unilaterally and voluntarily abolish its nuclear arms capability.
The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo recognises eminent foreign nationals and other foreign dignitaries for friendship shown to South Africa. It is therefore an Order of peace, cooperation and active expression of solidarity, and support. I now wish to quote the citation presented at the award ceremony at the Presidency in Pretoria on 27 April 2010, where President Zuma honoured Madame Ogata.
I quote:
“The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo in Silver is bestowed on Sadako Ogata for her achievement in the eradication of apartheid, negotiated settlement, and contributing to the development of post-apartheid South Africa and the development of the African continent.
Sadako Ogata was born in Tokyo, Japan. Sadako Ogata, as United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees, assisted in repatriating African National Congress (ANC) cadres who were in exile in the early 1990s. She was also the leader of the UN observer delegation to the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) in Johannesburg.
Sadako Ogata is respected throughout the world as an impassioned supporter of refugees and displaced people. She has been a tireless champion of the dispossessed victims of war and through her actions, has made an indelible contribution to improving the lives of South Africans, Africans and dispossessed people all over the world.
Sadako Ogata came to South Africa at the end of 1991 to head the UN delegation to the Codesa multiparty talks that enabled a peaceful and orderly democratic transition in South Africa and where she was a permanent observer. It was during this time that she met Presidents Nelson Mandela, then Vice President and later President, Thabo Mbeki and the leadership of the ANC and the key participants in the talks. Her initial contacts developed into friendships, solidarity and long-standing relationships with the political leadership and people of South Africa.
She played an important role in the opening of the first UN office in South Africa. The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which she headed during the 1990s, opened an office in Johannesburg in September 1991. Sadako Ogata and the UNHCR facilitated the voluntary return of a great number of South Africa refugees and exiles between 1991 and 1993.
Sadako Ogata, as President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since October 2001, has ensured that South Africa’s unique development cooperation needs were accommodated. Her friendship, commitment and drive have strengthened Japan’s engagement and relations with South Africa. She has contributed greatly to JICA, expanding its cooperation with South Africa and was also instrumental in a Japan Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) Working Group founded in Tokyo in December 2006, to support South Africa’s “Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa and skills development initiatives”.
She also played a major role in getting the Government of Japan to increase overseas development assistance funding by US$10 billion, particularly to Africa, since 2005.
Sadako Ogata’s unique contribution in building a better world and assisting refugees and internally displaced people has been recognized by a number of counties and organizations. She is honored today for her friendship and solidarity towards South Africa, Africa and the advancement of Africa’s development.” Unquote
Madame Ogata, it is therefore a great honour for me to congratulate you also here in Tokyo, on having been awarded this honour. You have been and remain a pillar of support and solidarity for South Africa in Japan and I wish to thank you for your major contributions towards the improvement of the lives of so many people in my country. As you are aware, South Africa has come through an amazing period of its society’s evolution in the past 16 years since the birth of our democracy in 1994. We can truly say that with the help of people like you and Japan, that we have managed to advance the cause of human development and human dignity in our country since 1994. SA today, is a young but vibrant democracy with a steadily expanding economy which inter alia enabled us to currently host the first FIFA World Cup on the African continent. It is also appropriate that you receive this award in the year that we are celebrating 100 years of Japanese/South African relations which has recently been elevated to the level of strategic cooperation during the recent constructive bilateral visit of Foreign Minister Okada to SA. It is my country’s sincere desire to actively promote its friendship and cooperation with this great country, Japan and its people.
Madame Ogata, I am sure that I also speak on behalf of all my African colleagues of the African Diplomatic Corps present here tonight when I recognize your equally significant contribution towards the wellbeing and development of the African continent, inter alia in a TICAD context. I listened to you this afternoon at the FCCJ and was again impressed by your commitment to Africa.
For all of us present here tonight, you epitomize the strong belief in upholding human dignity, equality and fairness as well as the promotion of peace and stability around the world.
I wish to hand you a small token of appreciation and memento of your recent visit to South Africa.
Thank you
Arrigato gozaimashita
